Starcodes July 21, 2023

The Sun joins Mercury and Venus in expressive Leo this weekend and brings a high tide of summer festivals and performing arts. As Venus also turns retrograde this weekend, some of those performing arts could spill into personal drama.

Planets in Leo encourage us to be generous when we see what’s going on but can make it difficult to perceive or empathize with another person’s perspective. We can have trouble decentering ourselves so we can perceive what our mate needs, or old friend, or another socioeconomic group so different from our own. But if we push to get out of ourselves and empathize with others, we can expand our world.

Venus, now an evening star, turns retrograde this Saturday through September 3rd. Because Venus is closer to the Sun than our earth- we only see her in the same sign as the Sun or one or two signs on either side. Venus retrogrades every 18 months for 40 days, she starts as an evening star where she’s seen as the mythological goddess of love and creativity, retrogrades back to conjunct the Sun this August 14th, and then becomes a morning star, where she is perceived as a passionate goddess of healthy boundaries.

Venus is always passionate- but is she seductive or assertive. Dante’s Inferno described the level of hell devoted to crimes of passion as being a hot pink swirling storm, a great metaphor for our heart on a bad day. Venus spins backwards compared to the other planets and does so very slowly, she spins around once every 243 earth days, the side facing the sun is the hottest place in our solar system, the side facing away is much cooler, which symbolizes the emotional hot and cold extremes our heart can feel.

Venus in Leo expands our feelings and turns up our hunger to be seen, but it’s up to us how we do so, whether we’re seen as a generous soul or attention-grabbing creep, through a grand fashion statement, political grandstand, or because a loved one really listens to our soul. To deal with this longing we need to really see ourselves- and potentially bring ourselves to our ancestors and guides to feel seen on a spiritual level — so we don’t mind if our dear ones are temporarily distracted.

Venus retrograde also brings up the past and can help us pick up a lost artistic skill or stir old emotional coals. Just don’t dial an ex and expect the interaction to be…